Coach Miranda Knowles has announced that she will be ending her illustrious Hustle coaching career. In October coach Knowles was inducted in the USA Ultimate Hall of Fame as a player. She has had many stints coaching with the USAU National teams.
Coach Knowles has been a driving force in the Atlanta Hustle since before its first game. During the winter of 2014 when the team was forming for its first season, Coach Knowles emerged as an initial top choice to lead the team as its first head coach.
“It was clear that Coach Knowles was the most experienced and qualified coach in the area. She was my top choice. Our visions for the team were neatly aligned,” said Hustle GM John Boezi. “Unfortunately, at the time her schedule did not permit her to commit to the demands of head coaching a professional team. She was, and stays, committed to coaching Paideia Groove whose competitive season overlaps with the Hustle’s preseason.” Coach Knowles did agree to join the staff as an assistant coach under head coach Greg Swanson.
“Miranda was instrumental in our early development of the Hustle’s vision for our team culture, style of play, and how this new entity would play a role in the Atlanta ultimate community, “ said Boezi. “She was an invaluable resource while we were navigating so many new and sticky questions.”
“It was a time when Atlanta was learning how to carve out space for and balance a relationship between club and pro ultimate. It was a blank sheet of paper and she helped to facilitate some great discussions about what a healthy future for our sport could be. There was no playbook for how to convert an amateur sport into a business.”
“Miranda and Dylan Tunnell, high school teammates at Paideia, both helped establish an initial precedent for the Hustle that we would value team over compensation and individual treatment. To this day all Hustle players receive the same pay per game.”
“Miranda helped push me and the league to grow in our thinking about pro sports culture as well as the dynamics of competitive sports teams that included more than one gender. She advanced the team and league on creating structure around locker rooms, travel arrangements, and gender neutral contracts.”
She stood firmly out front for players and fans of all ages to see and adjust to a woman in that position of authority in sports. “"When there was broad questioning of the AUDL as a league primarily for men, I chose to stay with the Hustle because I loved the team and felt I could make a difference from within the organization. I have always strived to be an excellent coach in the men's division in part to make our athletes, opponents and fans consider why it is such a rarity and how we as a society could open our minds to more women in traditionally male spaces in athletics," said Knowles. Boezi added “I have to imagine it was a difficult experience for her at times. She carried a lot of weight as players and fans alike made mistakes over the years and she graciously guided them to grow, which is incredibly impressive and hard.”
After the 2017 season the Hustle parted ways with Coach Swanson. It took some persuasion but Coach Knolwes agreed to a new position as Director of Coaching. She still had the same scheduling conflicts but she agreed to this new position which gave her supervision over the strategy and staffing of the team as well as a bigger voice in the direction of the business.
She filled in the role of head coach with the initial intention of finding and developing a long term replacement. She built a structure for her staff and player leadership group that could help bear the duties of coaching.
You can see in Coach Knowles’ style that she is a teacher. She is known for being patient and even mannered in the most stressful situations. There is a gravity to her presence. She commands the attention of a huddle even in the most chaotic stadium atmospheres. She is exceptionally articulate and could easily start a new career commentating ultimate where she would quickly rise to the top of that field.
Coach Knowles created a team dynamic where all players felt welcome, included and supported immediately. This was instrumental in her recruiting and building the trust of new talent.
On the field Coach Knowles was the architect of many of the Hustle’s core values of play. She has a singular talent for distilling the complex concept of a game with infinite possibilities into simple tactics that can be repeated with compounding effect.
Her CCR look progression has become the de facto style of play in Atlanta for multiple generations of players. Even if players don’t know its origins, Coach Knowles’ philosophies have trickled down from the top players and assistants she has mentored to other teams they have been a part of. What seems intuitive now, was once an innovative concept.
Coach Knowles is a versatile talent, but it could be argued that her biggest strength is defensive schemes. She implemented the Hustle’s zone and force middle philosophies, both of which took years to engrain in the player pool since none of the Hustle’s players had experience with these concepts at earlier levels.
Coach Knowles played her college ultimate at Carleton College where she was recruited to play basketball. Her love for and deep experience with basketball aided her in guiding Atlanta ultimate into a timed game format. She was influential in the development of time out strategies and teaching end of quarter clock management strategies.
True to her initial vision and love for the Hustle, Coach Knowles never stopped looking for a steward she trusted with her team that could devote the time she always wished she had. In 2022 Coach Knowles was named to the staff of the USA National team for the World Games in Birmingham. Anticipating how difficult it would be to manage these two overlapping seasons she brought onto her staff Coach Tuba Benson-Jaja. Coach TBJ was previously the successful head coach for the Cannons franchise when they were in Jacksonville.
In the 2023 preseason it became clear based on the trajectory of the team’s evolution that it was time for a transition. Coach Knowles handed the baton off to Coach Benson-Jaja and slid into an assistant role to enable continuity, which is critical to team success. The 2023 Hustle blasted out of the gates with a 3 game win streak and finished the season with 10 wins, including three dubs against the Flyers: two at home and one on the road. The team looks positioned for continued success and many see the Hustle as a ‘24 title contender.
On behalf of the entire Hustle family, we are eternally grateful for Coach Knowles’ sacrifices and contributions. We could never be on this path without her. As we enter this next chapter in the Hustle’s story, we will always find a space for her to be part of this family.
“I’ve absolutely loved working with this team. The Hustle has a very strong team culture and I’ve loved being a part of it since the team’s inception and feel confident leaving them in Coach Tuba ‘s highly capable hands,” said Coach Knowles.
Earlier this year Matthew Knowles also announced his retirement from playing for the Hustle. This marks the end of a 9 year chapter from 2015-2023 in which both were involved with the team and its leadership.
The Hustle is 62 - 46 with Coach Knowles on the sideline for 4 years as an assistant and 4 years as head coach. The team has earned two playoff runs, going 1-2 in three games. In 2016 the Hustle defeated the Flyers on the road to earn a place in the South championship game. The team fell to the eventual league champion Dallas Roughnecks, a squad that many believe is the most talented roster in league history. Dylan Tunnell earned the honor of league MVP that season. In 2023 the Hustle took the regular season South title but again fell in double OT in the divisional championship.
Notable games of the Knowles era
In 2015 the Hustle started their inaugural season in the frying pan on a double header road trip to the Flyers and Express. The Hustle fell to the Flyers in an ESPN televised game which introduced Atlanta ultimate to roller pulls.
On July 4th 2015 The Hustle hosted their first ESPN game of the week. Matt Smith made the team’s first appearance on Sportscenter Top 10. The Hustle lost that game to the Cannons and were eliminated from playoff contention. At that time only two South teams advanced to the playoffs.
In 2016 the Hustle defeated a Cannons team coached by Tuba Benson-Jaja by 1 pt in the final regular season game at Lakewood Stadium. This earned the Hustle their first playoff spot. This is the one and only time the team wore their Sunset jerseys.
The Hustle traveled to the Flyers as the playoff #3 seed and upset them by two. The following week the team fell to the Dallas Roughnecks in the Divisional championship game
In 2018, the Hustle won their season opener and Coach Knowles’ debut game at the helm. This was the first win by the Hustle against the Cannons on the road. The team started the season with a 3 game win streak. This season was marked by a new strategy to implement 3 even lines of players which introduced an element of equity on the team and provided space for improvement by players who have now grown into national-level talents.
In 2019, the Hustle traveled to Indianapolis for their first cross divisional game. They defeated the AlleyCats 27-22 and are 3-0 all time against them.
The Hustle capped a strong finish to the 2019 season with their first ever win over the Dallas Roughnecks at home. Looking back, this stretch foreshadowed the leap the team was poised to make.
Due to COVID19 the 2020 season was canceled. Coach Knowles and her staff creatively kept the team connected through this difficult time of lock downs with regular zoom “practices.” It is believed these meetings helped the Hustle enter the 2021 season ahead of many other franchises.
In 2021 the Canadian border was still closed so the remaining East teams joined the South in forming the Atlantic division. The season started 1 month later than usual.
To start the 2021 season the Hustle defeated the Flyers at home in OT. The game is memorable for its exceptional game atmosphere. The Atlanta crowd was so loud it had a noticeable effect on the visiting Flyers players.
The following week the team traveled to Boston for their first match against the Glory. The Hustle defense mounted a second half comeback to win the game by 2. The Hustle are 2-0 all time versus the Glory. The team began the season with a 4 game winning streak.
In July 2021 the Hustle traveled for a double header at PHI and DC. The team won both games in a statement that they were a player on the national stage.
The following week, the Hustle hosted the NY Empire for the first time ever. The Hustle upset the Empire 22-21; the Empire have not lost a regular season game since. The Hustle had won 8 of their first 9 games.
In August 2021 the Hustle pulled off an unbelievable 2OT comeback in Pittsburgh to beat the Thunderbirds.
The Atlantic division playoff structure included the top 4 teams. The #2 Empire hosted the #3 Hustle and the #1 Breeze hosted the #3 Flyers. The winner of each game would earn a bid to Championship Weekend. The Hustle, who were underdogs coming into the game, fell to the Empire in an instant classic. After building a commanding lead in the first half the Empire forced OT and reeled in a buzzer beating hail mary as time expired.
